Etc: Campus News & Notes

UW Tacoma Chancellor Patricia Spakes with the proclamation from the City of Tacoma.

HER OWN DAY: The city of Tacoma proclaimed May 24, as Patricia Spakes Day, in honor of UW Tacomas chancellor, who will step down at the end of June.

Chancellor Spakes took the helm of UW Tacoma in 2005, when students numbered 2,100 at the growing university. Since then, students have increased to about 3,300 and UW Tacoma has changed from a two-year to a four-year university. During Spakess term the university completed a fundraising campaign bringing in more than $40 million, constructed the William Philip Assembly Hall, renovated the Joy Building and started work on the new Tioga Library Building.

The citys proclamation notes Spakess leadership of UW Tacoma “as a major economic, civic and cultural presence in Tacoma and our region,” and the “myriad partnerships between UW Tacoma and the City of Tacoma,” among other accomplishments.

“Chancellor Patricia Spakes has been a wonderful role model, advocate and supporter of all things Tacoma, sharing her vision, insight and talents as a colleague and friend of the City Council and staff,” the proclamation states.

Brewster Denny

HIS OWN AWARD: The Childrens Alliance has created a new award in honor of a UW emeritus faculty member. The Brewster C. Denny Rising Advocate Award, named after the founding dean of the Evans School of Public Affairs, will recognize new and outstanding leaders who speak up for kids.

The Childrens Alliance will bestow the award for the first time this year at its Voices for Children Luncheon on Tuesday, June 7 at Seattle Center. For many years, Denny co-chaired the Childrens Budget Coalition of the Childrens Alliance, which united advocates for kids from all over the state to make public resources commensurate with the needs of all Washington kids.

“Brewster has touched the civic fabric of our state in untold ways,” says Childrens Alliance executive director Paola Maranan. “He has played an incredible role in developing, nurturing and supporting child advocates — including many of us at the Childrens Alliance. Evans School alumni, civic leaders and public officials across the state are in his debt.”

Associate Vice President for Campus Life Lincoln Johnson signs a beam that will be part of the refurbished HUB.Mary Levin

AUTOGRAPHED HUB: Some of those who miss the HUB during its closure gathered near the construction site for the renewed building to sign a beam that will go into the HUB as construction continues. The event, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 1 and 2, was sponsored by Student Life as a way to generate enthusiasm for the new building, which won’t be ready for occupancy until the fall of 2012.

The beam is about 16 feet long and was painted white to facilitate the signing. Student Life staff provided Sharpee pens for anyone who wanted to stop by and add their John Hancock to the beam, which sat near the N-22 parking lot at the north end of the HUB.

BIT OF THE BURKE: A little bit of the Burke Museum has come to the entrance way of the Center for Undergraduate Advising, Diversity and Student Success, which also houses the Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity and Undergraduate Academic Affairs, in Mary Gates Hall.

Burke Museum staff designed a three-panel display to complement the museums ongoing “Expect the Unexpected” campaign, and its collection managers chose objects to reflect the scope of the Burkes divisions and collections. Karin Moughamer, the museums campus outreach coordinator, said its a great way to remind undergraduates that this interesting natural history museum is there for them, too.

MATH NO. 5: The UW was ranked fifth in the world in mathematics research, in a ranking conducted by Thomson Reuters, which supplies information to Times Higher Education magazine. The ranking is based on the citation impact of research papers. More information is available online.

KEYNOTER: UW Bothells Paul Hill, a nationally recognized expert on how school districts can be structured more effectively, recently delivered the keynote address at a meeting for parents, teachers, students and education professionals in the Bellevue School District.

The event was designed as a way for Bellevue stakeholders to listen to each other, share information and be heard by everyone from the school district board and cabinet members to local elected officials. Hill is director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, which develops, tests, and helps communities adopt alternative governance systems for public K-12 education.